I&S Employee Newsletter - March 2020

Dear Infrastructure and Sustainability team,

I want to take the opportunity to encourage you all to take part in the Faculty and Staff Engagement Survey, if you haven’t already. You should have received an email invitation from gallagherknowledgenowkc@ajg.com on Monday, March 2 to take the survey.

Your voice matters, and this is a great opportunity for us to check in on how we are doing on workplace engagement at CU Boulder. As a story in CU Boulder Today noted last week, the survey will measure concepts such as employee satisfaction, commitment and empowerment. The results will be used to identify actions for improving the quality of the work experience for all of our employees. 

The survey takes only about 10 minutes to complete, and will help us improve not only as a campus but also specifically within our own organization of Infrastructure and Sustainability. From implementing our New Employee Orientation to increasing networking events within I&S through the work of our I&S Inclusive Excellence Committee (ISIEC) and our focus on professional development, we’ve worked in recent years to find ways to keep our team involved and engaged. There is always more that we can do, and your participation in this survey will help us identify meaningful actions.

Thank you for being part of our great I&S team!

Sincerely,

David Kang, vice chancellor for infrastructure and sustainability 

P.S. I want to give kudos to our Access Services team and others from our organization who worked quickly to fix an emergency situation in the JILA building recently that necessitated re-keying dozens of locks in the building on an extremely tight timeline. Well done!

• Campus Sustainability Awards (nomination deadline extended to March 6)
• University of Colorado Staff Council Staff Excellence Awards (nominations due March 13)
• Last call for CU President’s Sustainability Solutions Challenge (register before March 9)

Radiation Safety Officer Margaret Ashton was appointed to serve on the State of Colorado Radiation Advisory Committee. She will serve a four-year term as a representative of higher education. Congratulations, Margaret, and thank you for your service to the state!

In celebration of the CU community’s legacy of sustainability and in honor of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, CU Boulder will host an environmental teach-in event that mirrors CU’s first ever Earth Day teach-in in 1970. The April 22-23 teach-in event will feature applied research projects and hot topics of interest to the CU community and representative of our critical era. In addition, on April 23, the long-standing Campus Sustainability Summit will be integrated into the teach-in event with a segment focused on campus initiatives following the annual awards ceremony. Presentations can be in the form of posters, panels and workshops. Submissions received prior to March 19, 2020 receive priority review. 

How long have you been working at CU? 
Since July of 2012, so almost 8 years.

What is your favorite thing to do outside of work?
Outside of work I enjoy playing in the mountains. Climbing, mountain biking, snowboarding, and alpine running are my favorite ways to explore the outdoors.

Tell us something that might surprise us about you? 
Apart from working at the University, my “side hustle” is acting in commercials and modeling for advertisements. I was also on a couple episodes of American Ninja Warrior. I have two audition videos which can be found on Youtube.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQoDkXw4Vhw
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eUYY-YegCg&t=94s

What do you love about CU Boulder? 
Being so close to the mountains, many people enjoy spending time outside and many of us can bond over various outdoor pursuits that are at our back door. I enjoy when Mondays around the water cooler are spent reminiscing on the different adventures of the weekend.

What are you currently reading?
1491 New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus. It’s about what the Americas looked like at the time of the Europeans’ arrival.  

***Know someone doing great work? Nominate them for the next VCIS newsletter employee spotlight.***

The Guaranteed Ride Home Program provides CU Boulder EcoPass smart card holders with a free taxi ride home in the event of an emergency or work schedule change when they take the bus, carpool or use alternative transportation to get to work.

OIT is offering weekly Introduction to Microsoft Teams workshops on Fridays from noon to 1 p.m. in Norlin Library room M210. You can also join remotely.

Multiple sessions in the coming weeks offer our staff opportunities to grow both professionally and personally, including:

• March 4, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
• March 11, CliftonStrengths Introduction
• March 16, Emotional Intelligence Workshop
• March 19, Project Management Essentials: For the Unofficial Project Manager

Please work with your supervisors to attend these or future trainings. Online registration is available at www.colorado.edu/hr/employee-learning. You can also contact Kelsey Draper in I&S Human Resources with questions at 303-735-6176 or kelsey.p.draper@colorado.edu.

Linkedin Learning, an online library of instructional videos taught by accomplished instructors and recognized industry experts, is available to all CU employees and students at no additional cost. Videos cover the latest software, create and business skills.